Thanks, Ed. I like your argument about the loads on a single main gear touching down in an extreme crab. I am sure that I won't try to test these theories one way or the other, but my instructor was curious. When life, limb and the fate of a 60 year old aircraft are at risk, I don't think that I will be collecting test pilot data on this one.
Frank Nelson --- In [email protected], "Ed Burkhead" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Frank Nelson asked: > > This is an excellent point, Jerry. If an Ercoupe that can handle > > 15 knots of crosswind using a standard landing, then it would > > seem that such an Ercoupe could use combination of rudder > > and crabbed landing to land in a 45 knot crosswind. Is this true > > or am I just dreaming? Does the addition of rudder pedals > > increase you ability to handle crosswinds? > > The majority of my Coupe flying was with rudder pedals. > > I found that up to a 15 mph crosswind component, I could land one- wing-low > with the nose aligned with the runway/direction-of-motion. > > With crosswind components in excess of 15 mph, the rudder effectiveness was > insufficient for that technique. So, in stronger crosswinds, I leveled the > wings and landed in a crab like any two-control Coupe. > > While I can conceive of landing in a strong crab, one wing low, it > distresses me to think of it. Here's why: In a normal crabbed landing, > both main gears touch at about the same time so the side loads are handled > by both main gear legs. If you land one wing low AND in a strong crab, the > upwind main gear will touch first, by itself, and may take unacceptable side > loads. Then again, the side loads may not be a problem even in this > situation. I don't know - never tried it. > > Me, I landed wings level in a crab whenever the crosswinds were very strong. > Probably 35 mph crosswind component was the strongest I ever did. A 30 mph > direct crosswind didn't faze me landing on a 20 foot wide asphalt runway > once on a cross country trip (well, I sweat some but it turned out to be a > non-event). > > The 25-30 mph crosswind components I had on several wider runways on many > occasions were, similarly, not a big deal. > > Interestingly, when you get down to the last 1'-9' altitude, you get a > dampening of the turbulence from the ground effect and that helps make for a > controlled touchdown. My technique was to keep the airspeed a bit high till > I was level in ground effect at about 3'-8' high, then bleed off the > airspeed and let it settle down. > > If the crosswinds were much stronger than the strongest I landed in, I could > just about land across the runway or on the 100' taxiway. With a net ground > speed less than 20 mph, stopping doesn't take very long. (Facetious humor - > kids, don't try this at home!) > > Ed >
